Friday, February 25, 2011

Hand made Chipboard Letters..

Good Friday to you lovely ladies and what a great Friday it is, we get to share something new with you today... I get so excited when I get to share..LOL

So, how many of you lovely ladies have spent your hard earned money on a box of Chipboard letters and eventually you will not have that one letter you need to finish a project? Been there, done that..

Well, we want to share a way for you to be able to use your left over boxes from your kitchen pantry, to make any size, any color and/or any print Chipboard Letter using your Cricut..

So, any box that hasn't come in exact contact with food can be used.. a cake box for instance or cereal box is great.. Pizza boxes are great as well, if the pizza was originally wrapped in plastic.. You really don't want to use a dirty box..

ok, so for supplies you will need and I promise this list will be short :

a cereal box for instance, I cut this 4" x 7", cardstock or printed paper of your choice, distress ink and tool and last but not least fast drying glue.

Stick your "chipboard" down onto the mat, I reinforce mine with some scotch tape.. I also switched from my normal blade housing to my deep cut housing.. You can use your normal blade housing, just cut it several more times to make sure its cut through (for basic cereal boxes cut at full depth and pressure and cut twice).. this "chipboard" isn't too thick..

My blade housing was set at 5, debth was at 6 and I cut it twice.. I also cut this SHADOW..

here it is all finished cutting..

be careful taking the chipboard off of the mat, I got too excited and ripped the leg off of the E, so I had to re-cut that one..LOL

and then for the next step:

for some reason the rest of the photos are on their side.. I've done everything in my power to try to figure it out why its doing it that way, but it just dont' like me today.. I apologize for that..

so, now that you have the chipboard cut, place your cardstock (green paper) onto the cutting mat and now cut only once, using your normal blade housing..but make sure you are still cutting it SHADOW..

once they are cut, use your ink application tool and ink the edges of the chipboard and the cardstock.. This step of course is optional, if you dont' like the inked look then do not ink..

here they are both inked.. I like to messy ink, nothing perfect!! LOL Now, once they are inked, start glueing them together..

I then cut re-cut the letters in Normal mode, which I won't ink and then I will glue it on top of the cardstock, which has been glued onto the chipboard. LOL (yea, I laugh out loud a lot)..

So, this is what the chipboard letters look like.. I'm using these in a mini album, so I didn't want to cut them really big.. These are cut at 1.5".. and finally here they are in my mini album:

You can add dimensionals onto the backs if you want them popped up more.. I just glued them down onto the pocket..

and I will be posting this whole mini album on my blog soon, so be on the look out..LOL

I certainly hope this little tutorial has been useful and money saving...LOL and I hope to see this technique used on a layout in the future.. We always love to see what you have come up with using our techniques..

Wonderful Nanne!!! I think I am going to love my Cricut even more now!! For chip board, I asked my secretaries at work to save me the backs of paper pads as they are always unpacking paper..It is thin, but thick enough for chip board cutouts. I love it!! Thanks for the tute!! Here is a way to enhance the letters in a different way!!

This is great and certainly a FAV of mine to do! Looks AMAZING on projects! I think if people start they will want to layer EVERYTHING like this!Thanks for sharing...can't wait to see that finished mini!

Nanne this is so helpful for me... I have never cut chipboard with my cricut because I wasn't for sure what settings to use... Now I know, and I can't wait to start making my own letters!!! Thanks so much!!! I hope you and you're family are doing well!! Hugs!!!